physics major class of 09

interesteddad
Sat, 19 Feb 2005 00:03:54 +0000

Great questions Marlgirl. It took my daughter a while to understand the sequence and the reasoning.

Remember, non-physics majors (i.e. chem majors, engineeering majors, etc.) take a normal 2-semester intro survey course (Physics 003/004) that covers the general stuff (mechanics, waves, electricity, yadda, yadda). This is your standard lecture format intro science course.

The track I’m talking about is a different sequence for students who are thinking about majoring in physics. The assumption is that you have had AP or honors Physics and calculus in high school.

This sequence starts with the 006H freshman seminar. It is taught by one of the more entertaining and well-liked Physics professors. Last fall, he taught three sections, each with about 12 students.

The reasoning behind the course is to give you an opportunity to really find out what majoring in Physics is like to see if you like it AND to give the Physics department an opportunity to see if you are suited to the way physics is taught at Swarthmore. The course is really about introducing a style of learning. Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity is just an interesting vehicle.

a) They start with a seminar format course. This used to be the honors section of this course, but with a shift to freshmen seminars, the lecture version of this course is no longer taught. Virtually every course for physics majors at Swarthmore is a small seminar setting. They want to give prospective students a taste of wrestling with and presenting problem sets to the class on a weekly basis. The class meets one a week, at night, for three hours and consists of students presenting problem sets they have worked on. For the rest of the week, students are working with each other trying to figure the stuff out. This is how the Physics department works at Swarthmore.

b) They want the intro class to be fun. This seminar covers pretty interesting stuff – space/time, etc. It’s more interesting that listening to lectures about the behavior of springs. It’s not a super hard course as physics courses go.

c) This is really what modern physics is all about. The classical stuff is important, but Einstein really changed the whole ball of wax.

Here’s a website with the syllabus, course details, and problem sets for the course. Scares the dickens out of me, by daughter said it wasn’t that bad.

http://chaos.swarthmore.edu/courses/phys6_2004/index.html

In real life, the seminar served its purpose. My daughter loved it, , really liked the professor, was challenged, but not overwhelmed, got her best “grade” (it’s officially pass/fail), and decided that being a Physics major wasn’t for her. That was one of her major fork in the road goals for freshman year, so it turned out to be a great course.

For those who continue, the next part of the sequence is three semesters of advanced intro physics: 007 (Mechanics), 008 (Electricity, Magnetism, and Waves), and 014 (Thermodynamics and Quantuum). Because these are pretty much just for physics majors, they are small, intensive, and reportedly hard as nails.